Joyce & Shanai "NaiNai" Green, 73 & 3 (Katrina: The Untold Stories)
Louisiana Lou
Storm claims grandmother, granddaughter
By VICKI FERSTEL
Advocate staff writer
Published: Apr 14, 2006
http://www.2theadvocate.com/features/2633276.html
When Shanai Green slipped off a roof and into Hurricane Katrina’s
floodwaters, her horrified grandfather, Robert Green, could do nothing
to save the 3-year-old “NaiNai”.
He had two other children to save.
The disaster that claimed the life of Robert Green’s beloved NaiNai also
claimed his wheelchair-bound mother, Joyce Hilda Green, 73, who died
while she, Robert Green and other family members huddled on a rooftop,
waiting to be rescued.
Before the hurricane roared ashore on Aug. 29, Robert Green, 51, and his
brother Jonathan W. Green Sr., 46, were living with their mother at her
1826 Tennessee St. home in New Orleans along with NaiNai and a mentally
disabled cousin, Hyman “Herman” Sheppard, 60.
The four-bedroom, 2,500-square-foot home in the Lower 9th Ward had been
in the family for 38 years.
Their daily visitors were NaiNai’s two sisters, Shaniya Thomas, 5, and
Shamiya “Muffin” Thomas, 2, both of whom went home each night with their
parents, Everidge Alexander Green and Deanna Thomas.
A tax accountant, Robert Green is the divorced father of three sons, two
of them twins, and a set of twin daughters. Working from his home, he
also was the family caretaker.
The family had survived Betsy, Camille and other storms. “We had a
respect for hurricanes,” Robert Green said.
Before Katrina slammed ashore, his son Robert Green Jr. tried to drive
them out of the city, but they returned because of the heavy traffic.
They also drove by the Superdome, but decided to try later because of
the long lines at the entrance. After dropping the family back home,
Robert Green Jr. drove to Chalmette, where he got caught during the storm.
Back in their house on that Sunday, the family — Robert and Jonathan
Green, their mother, Sheppard, and NaiNai, Muffin and Shaniya — waited,
unable to communicate with other family members by telephone or cell phone.
Jonathan Green woke up shortly before 4 a.m. Monday, Aug. 29, and
noticed water in the one-story house.
At 6 feet 8 inches and equipped with a life vest, Jonathan Green was
tall enough to wade across the flooded street to investigate if he could
move the family to a neighbor’s empty two-story house. After kicking in
the door, he returned to the family home, scooped his mother into his
arms, and started out the door, but the water was too high — up to his
chest.
“That’s how fast the water was coming,” Robert Green said. “We decided
we had to get into the attic.”
One by one, they climbed atop a floating armoire to scramble into the
attic. Then, they watched in horror as the addition to the house broke
off after neighbors’ houses on both sides pushed their house into the
street.
Jonathan Green, a teacher and basketball coach at Fortier High, started
slamming his fist into the ceiling until he was able to punch a hole
through the roof.
When Robert Green, who has rheumatoid arthritis, tried to help, he fell
into the water. Unable to swim, Robert Green said, he was able to kick
from the floor, pushing himself back above the water line. In the
process, he pricked his hand on a nail, opening a wound that would
become severely infected by the polluted water.
With the family atop the roof, the house started to move, floating down
the street at the height of the tree lines.
Within five minutes, they landed two blocks away — at 1617 Tennessee St.
A neighborhood friend was “clinging to the top of a tree like a cat,”
Robert Green said.
Robert Green lifted NaiNai to the roof of the more-stable 1617 Tennessee
St. house and had turned around to grab Muffin and Shaniya when Jonathan
Green yelled to him that NaiNai had fallen off the roof.
The water was too treacherous to attempt a rescue. Robert Green had the
girls to worry about while Jonathan Green was attending to Joyce Green
and Sheppard.
“All I could do is yell, ‘Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus!’ I couldn’t
deal with it,” Robert Green said.
“I was Paw-Paw. I was the person she would look to. I knew she knew I
would pull her up out of that water.”
Then Shaniya, the 5-year-old, also fell off the roof.
Thinking that she, too, had drowned, Robert Green again called out to Jesus.
Then he heard a cry.
“Paw-Paw! Paw-Paw!”
Shaniya, he said, had been able to swim to a truck.
The family made its way to the truck, from which they climbed onto the
roof of the house. “Her swimming to that truck saved our lives,” Robert
Green said.
Then the storm hit.
“I was trying to cover my Momma with my body,” Jonathan Green recalled.
He suspected his mother, suffering with Parkinson’s disease, was
beginning to lose hope when she told him she would take care of NaiNai.
“I said, ‘Momma, don’t give up.’ ”
Sometime later, he noticed she had died. She had a leaf stuck in her mouth.
“I couldn’t tell you when she died,” Jonathan Green said. “She went
peaceful.”
Once the sun rose, they could see a barge that appeared to have crashed
through the levee and other neighbors stranded on rooftops.
Three neighbors in a bass boat — Ernest “All Night Shorty” Edwards,
Antonio Guy and Keith “Bucket” Rivers — plucked the surviving family
members from the roof and ferried them to the Claiborne Avenue Bridge,
where the trio brought about 75 other survivors to safety.
Army trucks transferred the survivors to the Superdome, where the Green
family members were separated. Robert Green and the girls, through a
relative who was cooking for rescue crews, were able to stay in the
security area.
On Sept. 1, Robert Green and his granddaughters caught the first bus out
of New Orleans.
They and ultimately Jonathan Green and Sheppard landed in Houston.
Muffin and Shaniya were taken in by an aunt.
The brothers and Sheppard were flown to Nashville, where their brother
David Green lives. His employer, Travel Centers of America, paid for the
plane tickets and put the men up for a week in a motel.
Listening to his brothers relate their ordeal, David Green could barely
believe what he was hearing.
“All I could do is just sit there, listening to them — unbelievable.”
NaiNai’s body was found Oct. 25. She was buried on Nov. 19 at Providence
Memorial Park in Metairie.
Robert Green and his relatives found Joyce Green’s body on Dec. 29. She
was buried at Providence Memorial Park on Jan. 14.
Joyce Green is survived by three sons, 12 grandchildren and three
great-grandchildren. Her eldest son, Lionel Green, died a few years ago
from cancer.
“She was a very strong, radical person,” Robert Green said of his
mother. A U.S. Navy veteran who worked as a civilian at the Army Port of
Embarkation in New Orleans, she pushed her children to learn and to succeed.
“I never needed anything that my mother didn’t provide,” Robert Green said.
NaiNai also was strong-willed and, to her sisters, a caregiver. “She
would always make sure her sisters had,” Robert Green said. “She was
just a special child.”
Jonathan Green is now living in Nashville, where he had been teaching.
Unable to obtain background clearance, he said, he hasn’t decided
whether he will remain in Nashville.
Robert Green is now living with Sheppard in a three-bedroom apartment in
Baton Rouge, with Muffin and Shaniya staying with him during the day and
making frequent sleepovers.
Robert Green said he plans to rebuild the New Orleans house.
“Building a house is nothing,” he said. “Building a life back … .”
The horror of the ordeal still tugs at Robert Green, who has shared bits
of the story with The (New Orleans) Times-Picayune, The (London) Daily
Telegraph, CNN and “The Oprah Winfrey Show.”
He said he also feels a tinge of guilt.
“I really should’ve done better by my Momma and my granddaughter.”
Still, he is thankful for the offers of help he has received, many from
strangers.
“I’m not bitter. I’m not angry. I’m very happy in Jesus.”
---------------------------------
Joyce Hilda Green
GREEN Joyce Hilda Green, a retired Air Force Veteran, went home to the
Lord on Monday, August 29, 2005 at the golden age of 73. Joyce was born
in New Orleans, Louisiana on November 8, 1931 of Everidge Green Sr. and
Florence Green. She was one of ten children. Joyce Hilda Green was a
member of Trinity Lutheran Church. She leaves to cherish her beautiful
memory: devoted sister, Nellie; three sons: Robert Lynn Green, Sr. of
New Orleans, LA, Jonathan Wayne Green, Sr. of New Orleans, LA, David
Anthony Green, Sr. of Nashville, Tennessee and Lionel Green who preceded
his mother in death; 5 daughters-in-law: Denise, Eunice, Deborah, Ruth,
Joyce and Frenetta; twelve grandchildren: John I, Jonathan, Khalid,
David, Robert, Everidge, Everrette, Nicole, Lionel, Ariel, Arien and
Jonai; two step-grandchildren: Aja and Milton; eight
great-grandchildren: Jonathan, Shaniya, Kendall, Jacobi, Shamiya,
Chyana, Jailyn and Shanai whom we laid to rest on November 19, 2005; a
host of nieces, nephews and devoted friends. Also devoted friend,
Eunice. She was preceded in death by four loving sisters: Thelma, Enola,
Edith and Geneva; and four loving brothers: Jules, Ronald, Everidge and
Mitchell Sr. Visitation will be held on Saturday, January 14, 2006 from
11:00 a.m. until 12:00 noon at Sweet Home Christian Center, 434 Jackson
Street, Kenner, LA. The funeral to follow immediately afterwards. Pastor
Bobby Collins, officiating. Interment Providence Memorial Park Cemetery,
Metairie, LA. RICHARDSON FUNERAL HOME in charge.
Published in The Times-Picayune from 1/7/2006 - 1/14/2006.
http://www.legacy.com/Nola/LegacySubPage2.asp?Page=LifeStory&PersonId=16231753
---------------------------------
Shanai Green
GREEN Shanai Green on August 29, 2005 at 4:30 a.m. in New Orleans, LA.
Daughter of Deanna Fields and Everidge A. Green. Granddaughter of Diana
L. Thomas, James E. fields, Joyce M. Smith and Robert Lynn Green, Sr.
Sister of Shaniya E. Thomas, Shamiya Thomas and Kenneth J. Halley, Jr.
Niece of Dianna A. Thomas, Patricia U. Thomas, Robert Lynn Green, Jr.,
Everette L. Green, Arien C. Green, Arial J. Green, Jonai Green, David E.
Green and Lionel J. Green. Cousin of Chiyana J. Green, Dajonique A.
Fields, David A. Pickney III, Jakobe J. Freeman, Jeremiah G. Freeman and
Vernon B. Freeman, Jr. Age 3 years. A native and resident of New
Orleans, LA. Everyone is invited to attend the Funeral Services from
Sweet Home Christian Center, 434 Jackson Street, Kenner, LA on Saturday,
November 19, 2005 at 1:30 p.m. Visitation 12:30 until 1:30 p.m.
Interment Providence Memorial Park, Metairie, LA. Repass 2120 Sugarloaf,
Harvey, LA (504) 701-0805. Richardson Funeral Home in charge.
Published in The Times-Picayune from 11/18/2005 - 11/19/2005.
http://www.legacy.com/Nola/LegacySubPage2.asp?Page=LifeStory&PersonId=15691872